Kris Johansen earned her Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Missouri, and an M.B.A. from Iowa State University. Kris worked as a Senior Scientist at Xtrana, Inc., in Denver, CO, where she helped develop nucleic acid extraction kits as well as nucleic acid-based assays for the detection of food and environmental pathogens. Kris was also a Senior Scientist at Invenux, Inc. in Denver, CO, where she was involved in the development of drug lead compounds using a proprietary molecular evolution technology. At both Xtrana and Invenux, Kris participated in the preparation of multiple successful Phase I and Phase II SBIR grant applications to the USDA and NIH. She presently serves as the SBIR/STTR Program Administrator in the Office of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer at Iowa State University, where she assists small businesses in identifying funding opportunities and preparing grant proposals. In addition, she is also involved in marketing Iowa State University technologies available for licensing.